Department for Transport

Manchester Airport: Air Routes

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the ten most popular international flight destinations departing from Manchester Airport in 2021-22.

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the ten most popular international flight routes departing from the UK in 2021-22.

Jesse Norman: Data on commercial flight operations is collected by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and is currently complete and held by the Department until the end of October 2022. The top ten most popular international flight routes between January 2021 and October 2022, based on the number of terminal passengers departing from UK airports, is presented as Table 1. The top ten most popular international flight routes between January 2021 and October 2022, based on the number of terminal passengers departing from Manchester Airport specifically, is presented as Table 2. Table 1: Top ten most popular international flight routes based on the number of terminal passengers departing UK airports, January 2021 to October 2022 UK AirportInternational AirportTerminal Passengers*HeathrowDubai1,273,000HeathrowNew York (JF Kennedy)1,254,000HeathrowDoha Hamad750,000HeathrowDublin728,000HeathrowMadrid668,000HeathrowLos Angeles International644,000HeathrowAmsterdam636,000GatwickDublin635,000HeathrowIstanbul611,000HeathrowFrankfurt Main585,000*rounded to the nearest 1,000 Table 2: Top ten most popular international flight routes based on the number of terminal passengers departing Manchester Airport, January 2021 to October 2022 UK AirportInternational AirportTerminal Passengers*ManchesterTenerife (Sur Reina Sofia)463,000ManchesterPalma De Mallorca451,000ManchesterDublin448,000ManchesterAlicante416,000ManchesterAmsterdam398,000ManchesterDubai394,000ManchesterMalaga317,000ManchesterDoha Hamad311,000ManchesterAntalya294,000ManchesterFaro285,000*rounded to the nearest 1,000

Air Traffic Control: Strikes

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has held discussions with its French counterparts on possible industrial action in the air traffic control sector in the coming months.

Jesse Norman: The Department monitors the potential impact of possible industrial action in air traffic control through its engagement with NATS, the provider of air traffic control services in the UK and EUROCONTROL, the inter-governmental body responsible for the management of air traffic within Europe.

Bus Services: Disability

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to support the installation of audio-visual real time information on buses for visually-impaired and hard-of-hearing passengers (a) nationally and (b) in Norfolk.

Mr Richard Holden: We plan to require the provision of audible and visible information on local bus and coach services across Great Britain, and will introduce the Accessible Information Regulations shortly.

Bus Services: Disability

Ben Everitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the number and proportion of buses outside Greater London that are fitted with the necessary equipment for audio-visual next stop and final destination announcements.

Mr Richard Holden: The percentage of buses, in England outside London, using the Audio Visual information system, to provide route/direction, next stop and diversion information to passengers was 15% in 2020/21.

Bus Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that impact assessments are (a) undertaken and (b) published where bus transport providers intend to remove a bus route from their network.

Mr Richard Holden: The majority of bus services outside London are run on a commercial basis and decisions on routes are made and agreed between local authorities and bus operators. As part of The Public Service Vehicles (Registration of Local Services) (Amendment) Regulations 2018, operators are required to provide a copy of their proposed application to local authorities at least 28 days before they can submit an application to the traffic commissioner if they wish to vary or cancel a bus service. During this period, local authorities have the powers to request information from bus operators to understand the impact of the proposed changes will have and whether they want to subsidise or tender for a replacement service. Local authorities are free to publish their impact assessment of the bus service.

Electric Vehicles: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the use of electric transport in Stockport borough.

Mr Richard Holden: Government has already invested over £2 billion to support the transition to zero emission vehicles. This funding has focused on reducing barriers to adoption, including offsetting their higher upfront cost and accelerating the rollout of chargepoint infrastructure.In Stockport 2,166 charging devices have been installed through the Department’s Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme and 196 sockets through our Workplace Charging Scheme.Under the Department’s On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS), grant funding is available to all UK local authorities to provide public chargepoints for residents without access to private parking. I encourage Stockport Council to make use of the scheme.

Heaton Chapel Station

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of cancelled planned rail services to and from Heaton Chapel station in 2022.

Huw Merriman: Through its timetable development process, Northern seeks to provide a robust and resilient service to customers that aims to reduce cancellations as much as possible.The Department’s Rail North Partnership with Transport for the North continues to have regular discussions with Northern to manage the provision of services and work to reduce cancellations in the face of broad disruption across the network due to industrial action among other issues.

Railways: Tickets

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of train tickets sold for cancelled trains in the last six (a) months and (b) years for which data is available; and what steps he is taking to ensure that those tickets are refunded.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to require train operators to allow passengers to travel on the next available train when if their train is cancelled, regardless of which train operating company is operating that train.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to require train companies to inform all passengers with advance tickets when a train is cancelled.

Huw Merriman: The Department has not made an estimate of the number of train tickets sold for cancelled trains.If a train is cancelled passengers can get a full refund, including for Advance tickets, if they decide not to travel, and passengers are able to use their train ticket on the next available train operated by that train operating company (TOC). During times of disruption operators often allow passengers to use their tickets on services operated by other TOCs, but these agreements are managed locally.Many DfT-contracted TOCs have put in place systems whereby passengers who have purchased through their websites are notified if the train they have booked has been cancelled. Third party retailers will operate their own alert systems for their customers. The Department continues to work with industry to improve communication with passengers during times of disruption.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Trade Unions

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what human resources information their Department shares with trade unions on a regular basis.

Mr Steve Baker: The Northern Ireland Office shares relevant human resources updates and information with trade unions when required as part of ongoing engagement. There is also a range of publicly available HR information, which is published on GOV.UK.

Northern Ireland Office: Disease Control

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether their Department has purchased mobile UV virus irradiation units.

Mr Steve Baker: My Department has not purchased any mobile UV irradiation units.

Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus: Kidney Diseases

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of measures to safeguard clinically extremely vulnerable kidney patients from covid-19; whether he plans to take steps to (a) evaluate (i) new protective treatments, (ii) modified prescriptions and (iii) existing antiviral treatments and (b) implement other additional measures to safeguard kidney patients.

Will Quince: We have introduced enhanced protections which may benefit the small number of people whose immune system means they are at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19, despite vaccination, which includes free testing and public health guidance on managing this risk. Antiviral treatments are also available, which can be accessed in the community and in hospital. While a small minority may not be able to receive an antiviral, including some kidney patients, as of 28 November 2022, Sotrovimab can be prescribed in exceptional circumstances where other treatments have been deemed unsuitable. The National Institute for Health Excellence (NICE) is currently evaluating the treatments for COVID-19, including existing antiviral treatments, as well as Evusheld as a prophylactic. If NICE finds the medicines clinically and cost effective, the National Health Service will make them available as appropriate. We are also exploring options for an antibody testing study to improve the understanding of risks to this patient cohort. The scope of this study is currently being developed and further information will be available in due course.

Department of Health and Social Care: Trade Unions

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what human resources information their Department shares with trade unions on a regular basis.

Will Quince: Human Resources (HR) hold meetings with the Department’s recognised trade unions on at least a monthly basis. As part of this engagement, routine human resources information is shared with the trade unions. In addition to this, trade unions have access to HR information published on the Department’s internal intranet as well as a range of HR information, including transparency publications, which is published and publicly available on GOV.UK.

Mental Illness: Coronavirus

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of the research article, Heightened COVID-19 Mortality in People With Severe Mental Illness Persists After Vaccination: A Cohort Study of Greater Manchester Residents, published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin in August 2022; and whether his Department is taking steps to protect patients with severe mental illness from covid-19.

Maria Caulfield: The Department takes key research and evidence into consideration when developing its policies. This includes evidence that relates to the cohorts at high risk of developing COVID-19 including severe mental illness. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to at least an additional £2.3 billion a year to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services in England by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people get the support they need. This is on top of the additional £500 million provided for 2021/22, to accelerate our NHS mental health expansion plans and to target those groups whose mental health has been most affected by the pandemic including those with severe mental illness, young people, and frontline staff.

Dementia

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking enable charities and patient organisations to feed into the dementia mission led by Dame Barbara Windsor.

Helen Whately: We are in the process of developing plans for this mission, engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders, including leading charities and patient organisations in the dementia and neurodegeneration space. We will continue to involve them as our plans develop.

Dementia

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the terms of reference for the national dementia mission.

Helen Whately: We are in the process of developing plans for this mission. We cannot yet confirm when we will publish the terms of reference for the mission.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will increase funding for (a) the treatment of and (b) research into myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Helen Whately: It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of the local population, including people with ME/CFS. The Department is developing a cross-Government Delivery Plan on ME/CFS. As part of the plan, we are working with other Government departments and stakeholders to determine ways to improve experiences and outcomes for all people who have ME/CFS.The Government invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), through UK Research and Innovation. The NIHR and MRC both welcome high-quality applications for research into all aspects of ME/CFS, including biomedical research. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions.

Oral Cancer

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many oral cancers were identified at stage (a) 0, (b) 1, (c) 2, (d) 3 and (e) 4 in each year since 2015; and how many and what proportion of those were identified by dentists.

Helen Whately: The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), part of NHS Digital, collects data on all cancers diagnosed in England. The following table shows the number of diagnoses of oral cancer in England between 2015 and 2020. YearStage at diagnosisDiagnoses of oral cancerNumber referred by dentistsProportion referred by dentists201511,01511712%20152580498%20153637254%201543,1041766%2015Not staged418123%2015Unstageable1100%201611,02711111%20162615539%20163554275%201643,3921775%2016Not staged417184%2016Unstageable700%201711,06113413%20172613589%20173620315%201743,4292146%2017Not staged383205%2017Unstageable900%201811,06013212%201825615510%20183864415%201843,3392357%2018Not staged520194%2018Unstageable900%201911,7271629%201921,063888%20193918566%201941,94127014%2019Not staged1,091636%2019Unstageable200%202011,7821317%20202902738%20203929495%202042,06531215%2020Not staged742334%2020Unstageable200%Source: Cancer Registration Statistics, England 2020

Coronavirus: Kidney Diseases

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that national guidance on covid-19 includes specific information for people with chronic kidney disease.

Helen Whately: Our guidance for people at high risk from COVID-19 which was last updated in October, lists chronic kidney disease as a condition that means people are eligible for monoclonal antibody and antiviral treatments. The Government have taken the view that there is no need for more specific guidance for people with chronic kidney disease. People with this and other conditions listed in this guidance should consult their clinician if they have specific questions about the risk or impact of COVID-19.

Cancer: Medical Treatments

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what percentage of cancer therapies assessed by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have been for combination therapies rather than monotherapies in each year since 2017; and what percentage of terminated NICE appraisals for cancer therapies have been for combination therapies rather than monotherapies in each year since 2017.

Helen Whately: Between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2022, 27% of cancer appraisal recommendations made by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence related to combination therapies and 38% of terminated cancer drug appraisals related to combination therapies.

Health Visitors

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is he taking to (a) fund and (b) recruit increased numbers of Health Visitors; and if he will introduce a Health Visitor implementation plan.

Helen Whately: It is the responsibility of local authority commissioners, working with the service provider, to determine health visitor numbers based upon local needs. There are no current plans to introduce a Health Visitor implementation plan.

Prescriptions: ICT

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department will publish a specification for an electronic prescribing system for homecare medicines services.

Helen Whately: The National Homecare Medicines Committee’s (NHMC) standardisation programme includes an NHS Digital strategy project. Within the NHMC there is a digital sub-group working closely with NHS Digital on the output-based specification for e-prescribing for homecare medicines services to use an Electronic Prescribing System. This work is at an advanced stage in preparation for consultation with NHMC during 2023.

Disability: Income Support

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has conducted an impact assessment on the impact of the Minimum Income Guarantee on disabled users of social care.

Helen Whately: No specific assessment has been made. The level of the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) is reviewed annually, with the next review ongoing. Following the last review, from 6 April 2022 the MIG was increased in line with inflation. The impact of this uprating was taken into account in the Social Care Charging Reform Impact Assessment. Any revised rates for next year will be published in a Local Authority Circular.

Diabetes: Lighting

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of artificial light on the risk of developing type two diabetes.

Helen Whately: We have no plans to make an assessment.

Cancer: Waiting Lists

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures he will use to assess the Government's success in reducing waiting lists for cancer (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Whately: NHS England collects and publishes a range of data to help assess cancer waiting time performance. This work includes their monthly publication of performance data against the nine cancer standards. These standards include the Faster Diagnosis Standard and 31-day standards in respect of cancer treatment.On referrals, November 2022 saw the highest number of urgent general practice referrals for cancer ever, with nearly 265,000 patients referred.On cancer treatment, over 321,000 people received their first cancer treatment from December 2021 to November 2022, up by more than 10,000 on the same period pre-pandemic.

Weather: Death

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to investigate the reasons for the increase in excess deaths over winter 2022/23.

Neil O'Brien: The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities produces a monthly update of excess mortality statistics, which have been used to monitor excess deaths since July 2020 and adjust for age and size of the population. There are a range of different organisations producing different estimates based on different methodologies. It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to excess deaths over winter 2022/23, including high flu prevalence, cold, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.We are taking steps to help reduce excess deaths, including those which involve COVID-19, and those due to other factors.

Mental Health Services: Children

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) quantity and (b) quality of residential facilities for children requiring mental health residential care.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made. It is for integrated care systems to commission services, both National Health Service and local authority, in order to meet the needs of their local population.

Draft Mental Health Bill

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the forthcoming Mental Health Bill will include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people within all primary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health Bill, whether he plans to include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people within primary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health Bill, whether he plans to include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people withinprimary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health Bill, whether he plans to include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people within primary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health Bill, whether he plans to include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people within primary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health Bill, whether he plans to include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people within primary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Kim Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health Bill, whether he plans to include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people withinprimary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health Bill, whether he plans to include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people within primary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Caulfield: The draft Mental Health Bill, published in June 2022, is intended to modernise the Mental Health Act and work better for people with serious mental illness. The draft Bill has completed its pre-legislative scrutiny and the Joint Committee published its report on 19 January 2023 on the Draft Mental Health Bill. The Department will consider the Committee’s recommendations carefully and we will introduce the Bill when parliamentary time allows. Separate to the provisions in the draft Bill, there are currently 287 mental health support teams in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression and other common mental health issue. Theseteams now cover 26% of pupils, a year earlier than originally planned and this will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be deployed by 2024.

Mental Health Services: Children in Care

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the proportion of children in care who enter mental health services.

Maria Caulfield: No specific assessment has been made.

Department for Education

Children in Care: Private Sector

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the level of funding spent by each local authority in England on private children care placements in financial year 2021-22.

Claire Coutinho: The level of funding spent by each local authority in England on private provision can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/590f3ff4-eef3-4594-8ab5-08dafb06f66e.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) looked at provider profits as part of their market study of children’s social care in England, Scotland and Wales. The final report was published on 10 March 2022 and highlighted that some private providers of children’s homes and fostering agencies have high levels of profit.The department welcomes the report and is carefully considering the CMA’s recommendations. We have committed to publishing an ambitious and detailed implementation strategy for children’s social care early in 2023.

Children in Care

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children moved between care placements in each local authority in 2021-22; and how many children were moved more than once per authority.

Claire Coutinho: Information on the number of looked-after children who stayed in one placement during 2021/22 and the number who moved at least once can be found in the attached table.Figures on the number of looked-after children who changed placements three or more times during a one year period can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/53b32118-528e-4015-777b-08dab100bfc2. This data is for the year ending 31 March 2018 to the year ending 31 March 2022.All placement decisions are subject to the duty in Section 22 of the Children’s Act 1989 that the placement is the most appropriate way to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. The department needs a range of options for care placements and support that reflects the diverse needs of children in care and care leavers.Around 70% of looked-after children are placed with foster carers. For many children who cannot live with their birth parents, foster care offers them the opportunity to experience a stable environment. Looked-after children whose first placement in 2021/22 was with foster carers or placed for adoption were least likely to have more than two placement moves during the year compared with those in other settings.Recognising the urgency of action in placement sufficiency, the department will prioritise working with local authorities to recruit more foster carers. This will include pathfinder local recruitment campaigns that build towards a national programme, to help ensure children have access to the right placements at the right time. As the Care Review recommends, the department will focus on providing more support throughout the application process to improve the conversion rate from expressions of interest to approved foster carers.Kinship carers are a vital part of our society and play an important role in supporting a child’s development. Councils can offer discretionary financial support to kinship carers. Councils can offer discretionary financial support to kinship carers. We are rapidly working up an ambitious and detailed implementation strategy in response to the reviews and will publish early this year.In recognition of rising costs, the government is also providing over £37 billion to help families, targeted to support the most vulnerable.

Supported Housing: Young People

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure that her Department consults young people who have spent time in Supported Lodgings on all policy developments related to supported lodgings provision.

Claire Coutinho: The department recognises that supported accommodation, which includes supported lodgings, can be the right option for some older children, where it is high quality and where the young person is ready for the level of independence it promotes. We are investing over £140 million to introduce mandatory national standards and Ofsted registration and inspection of providers who accommodate looked-after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17 in supported accommodation.In developing these vital reforms, the department has consulted young people with experience of care at every step.The department recently published a consultation aimed directly at care-experienced children and young people, which sought their views on proposed new quality standards for supported accommodation, the proposed new requirements on the providers of this provision, and how Ofsted should register, inspect, and take action against providers. This consultation received 60 responses from care-experienced young people, and the department is carefully considering this input. A response will be published in due course. This consultation document can be accessed at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/regulating-supported-accommodation-team/regulating-supported-accommodation/.This recent consultation builds on years of engagement with care-experienced young people on these reforms, including focus groups which gathered the views of over 220 care-experienced young people, and a previous public consultation which received 69 responses. This continued engagement with children and young people has been invaluable, and has truly helped the department to develop a set of quality standards and accompanying regulatory model which will ensure that supported accommodation can deliver the absolute best for the 16 and 17-year-olds who are ready for the level of independence it brings.

Adoption: Self-employed

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of equalising access to adoption (a) leave and (b) pay by introducing an adoption allowance for self-employed adoptive parents.

Claire Coutinho: The department recognises that it is crucial to the success of an adoption placement that the adopter has time to care for and bond with their child.Self-employed adoptive parents may be supported in a range of ways by local authorities, including through financial support where applicable, as set out in the statutory guidance on adoption. This states that local authorities should consider making a payment, equivalent to Maternity Allowance, in cases where adopters do not qualify for any statutory payment because of their self-employment. This payment is discretionary and is means-tested to ensure that resources are targeted at those adopters who need it most, as part of a package of post-adoption support.

Children: Social Workers

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) new children’s social workers entering the profession and (b) children’s social workers leaving the profession in 2022.

Claire Coutinho: In the year ending 31 March 2022, around 3,000 newly qualified child and family social workers were supported through the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, which is the programme social workers undertake when they enter the profession.2022 data is not available. In the year ending 30 September 2021, around 2,800 child and family social workers left children’s services in local authorities.

Children's Social Care Independent Review

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the implementation strategy for recommendations from the independent review of children’s social care; and what steps she will take to involve care experienced people in her announcement.

Claire Coutinho: The department is rapidly working up an ambitious and detailed implementation strategy in response to the Independent Review of Children's Social Care, which we will publish shortly.The department is committed to engaging widely with those with care experience and all interested stakeholders to help us drive the right change and scale up good practice across the country.​The department has established the National Implementation Board to challenge and support the development of the reform programme. The Board is chaired by a minister and its membership is made up of sector leaders with experience of leading transformational change, and those with lived experience of the children’s social care system.Since July 2022, the Board has provided advice and challenge on the strategy and our delivery plans, to help ensure we are taking the right actions to secure the outcomes we want to see for children and families in the short, medium, and long term.​There will be other avenues through which people can engage with the reform programme beyond the National Implementation Board. The department will share information on this shortly. ​​

Asylum: Schools

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many secondary school-age unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children were able to get a school place within 20 days in each of the last two academic years.

Claire Coutinho: The department does not hold information centrally on in-year admissions, so we are not able to provide the information requested.

Foster Care: Recruitment

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of recruitment for foster carers; and if she will take steps to increase the rate of recruitment for foster carers.

Claire Coutinho: The department closely monitors data and research in trends relating to the recruitment of foster carers. Recognising the urgency of action in placement sufficiency, we will prioritise working with local authorities to recruit more foster carers. This will include pathfinder local recruitment campaigns that build towards a national programme, to help ensure that children have access to the right placements at the right time. As the Care Review recommends, the department will focus on providing more support throughout the application process, to improve the conversion rate from expressions of interest to approved foster carers. More information on foster care placements can be found here: https://childrenssocialcare.independent-review.uk/final-report/.

Apprentices: Degrees

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many UK nationals began a degree apprenticeship by sex in 2022.

Robert Halfon: In the 2021/22 academic year, there were 43,200 apprenticeship starts in England at Level 6 and 7 (degree level), of which 22,000 were female and 21,200 were male. Information on the nationality of learners is not held for government funded further education courses via the Individualised Learner Record. Further information on apprenticeship starts can be found in the apprenticeships and traineeships statistics publication, which can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.

Pupils: Attendance

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the attendance mentoring pilot commenced; how much her Department has spent on that pilot since it commenced; how many children in the pilot area have been supported through that scheme; and whether she plans to take steps to re-engage severely absent children outside of the pilot area.

Nick Gibb: The Department launched a £2.32 million attendance mentoring pilot on 20 October 2022 to deliver one-to-one support to a group of persistently absent pupils and their families. The support will start in Middlesborough, one of the Department's priority education investment areas (PEIAs). In the first year, 335 pupils will be supported. The pilot will be rolled out to an additional four PEIAs in its second and third years.Barnardo’s, the delivery partner for this contract, have now completed their recruitment and training. Mentoring support for pupils will begin later this month. The evidence gathered from this pilot will be shared with the sector and should enable schools, trusts, and Local Authorities to address persistent absence more effectively.In May 2022, the Department published attendance guidance, which sets out an expectation that schools and Local Authorities should agree a joint approach and plan to support every severely absent pupil. This expectation will work alongside the mentoring pilot to provide targeted support for persistently absent pupils.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help tackle higher than average persistent absence rates in the Education Investment Areas.

Nick Gibb: In all 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs), the Department is taking steps to support underperforming schools to make necessary improvements. 24 of the areas were given priority status as Priority Education Investment Areas (PEIAs). PEIAs will have access to more intensive support, on top of the significant support available to all EIAs.Attendance has been identified as one of the key issues to address in many of the PEIAs. The Department is working closely with schools, trusts, Local Authorities and other partners to address the specific issues in each area through the local area needs funding. An attendance adviser from the Department has been assigned to support every Local Authority in a PEIA. The Department is looking at how local plans build on this work. Local attendance action alliances will also be piloted in several PEIAs to share best practice and address area wide challenges.The Department will track the progress of these and other initiatives in the PEIAs to gauge their impact on improving attendance.

Pupils: Attendance

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have (a) been offered and (b) accepted use of an attendance advisor; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of attendance advisors in reducing persistent absence from schools.

Nick Gibb: Over the next two years, attendance adviser support will be offered to every Local Authority in the country. Advisers work closely with Local Authorities to ensure that they are fully implementing the key expectations in the Department’s new attendance guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1099677/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf.This includes supporting Local Authorities to make effective use of their attendance data to develop a local strategy, putting in place effective multi-agency support for families to address attendance barriers, and meeting with all schools on a termly basis to discuss and agree support for any persistently absent pupils.Attendance adviser support has also been offered this year to 24 multi-academy trusts with higher levels of persistent absence across their schools. These trusts are responsible for 226 schools in total.The Department continues to assess the effectiveness of the attendance adviser initiative by monitoring the progress of Local Authorities and trusts in implementing the action plans that they have developed with their adviser to reduce absence. School attendance data continues to be published regularly by the Department in the usual way.

Pupil Exclusions: Blackpool North and Cleveleys

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many exclusions of (a) SEN and (b) other pupils there were in schools in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency in each of the last three years.

Nick Gibb: The Department publishes figures from the school census on permanent exclusions and suspensions from state funded schools in England. The latest full academic year figures are for the 2020/21 academic year and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england/2020-21.The attached Excel spreadsheet gives the number of permanent exclusions and suspensions for pupils with and without special educational needs at state funded schools in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency between the 2018/19 and 2020/21 academic years.129778_table (xlsx, 22.0KB)

Midwives: Higher Education

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) Full Time Equivalent and (b) total midwifery academics there were in England in each of the last 10 years; and if she will provide an age profile of that group in (i) 2013, (ii) 2018 and (iii) at the most recent point for which figures are available.

Robert Halfon: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on the higher education (HE) workforce in their staff record.The staff record includes the cost centre that members of the workforce are employed in. Midwifery is not identified as a separate cost centre, so the data presented here show statistics on academic staff that fall within the nursing and allied health professions[1] cost centre, which includes midwifery academics.HESA publish academic staff data by full-person equivalent (FPE) and full-time equivalent (FTE)[2], but do not publish all requested information for England specifically so, where available, this has been set out in the tables below. The department’s analysis has been used to supplement the published data. The latest year for which HESA have published this level of detail on cost centres is 2020/21. HESA will publish data for 2021/22 on 21 February 2023.Table 1 shows the full published time series for the UK for FPE and FTE. Table 2 shows the corresponding time series for England, with previously unpublished FPE figures produced by DfE. Table 2 data for 2012/13 and 2013/14 could not be produced in time for inclusion. Table 3 shows the age breakdowns for 2018/19 and 2020/21 for FPE in the UK (published by HESA) and England (previously unpublished). Table 3 data for 2013/14 could not be produced in time for inclusion.Table 1: Full-person equivalent and Full-time equivalent number of nursing and allied health professions academics there were in the UK in each of the last 10 years.  Academic YearCost Centre[3]FPE[4]FTE[5]2011/12Nursing & paramedical studies9,0107,5702012/13Nursing & allied health professions9,0557,5752013/14Nursing & allied health professions9,4607,7952014/15Nursing & allied health professions9,5457,7552015/16Nursing & allied health professions9,8057,9302016/17Nursing & allied health professions10,0308,1252017/18Nursing & allied health professions10,5358,4352018/19Nursing & allied health professions11,1008,7852019/20Nursing & allied health professions11,4459,0152020/21Nursing & allied health professions11,7259,460Source:1Table 1 - HE staff by HE provider and activity standard occupational classification 2014/15 to 2020/21 | HESA2Publications archive | HESA Table 2: Full-person equivalent and Full-time equivalent number of nursing and allied health professions academics there were in England over the last 10 years where available. Academic YearCost Centre3FPE4FTE52011/12Nursing & paramedical studies7,4506,2352012/13Nursing & allied health professionsunavailable6,1752013/14Nursing & allied health professionsunavailable6,3902014/15Nursing & allied health professions7,8706,3752015/16Nursing & allied health professions8,1056,5102016/17Nursing & allied health professions8,3956,7052017/18Nursing & allied health professions8,7256,8952018/19Nursing & allied health professions9,0857,0702019/20Nursing & allied health professions9,4357,3102020/21Nursing & allied health professions9,6157,690Source:1Table 1 - HE staff by HE provider and activity standard occupational classification 2014/15 to 2020/21 | HESA2 DfE analysis of the HESA Staff record. Table 3: UK and England age breakdowns of total nursing and allied health professions academics in the years 2018/19 and 2020/21 (most recent).   UKEnglandAge range2020/212018/192020/212018/1925 and under13514010512026-3054048544538531-351,02089083571036-401,4101,2251,1651,00541-451,6301,5051,3451,23046-501,8751,8601,5101,50051-552,1202,1601,7351,78056-601,8901,8501,5501,52561-6582576067563566 and over280230250200Source:1https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/staff/table-21.2 https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/publications#staff-higher-education.3DfE analysis of the HESA Staff record.   [1] HESA changed cost centre groupings in 2012/13: for the academic year 2011/12, the relevant cost centre grouping is nursing and paramedical studies.[2] FPE relates to the proportion of a person's time allocated to different activities, so total FPE is not a simple headcount (for example, a person working across cost centres would have a fractional FPE assigned to each). FTE relates to the proportion of working hours that a person has been contracted to work in different activities (so a part-time staff member would have lower FTEs for each activity than a than full-time staff member). See HESA for a full explanation here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/c20025/fte_vs_fpe.[3] Cost centre is a financial concept which groups staff members to specific related cost centres. They relate to where the resources (staff) deployed to teach the student are located.[4] Counts are based on full-person-equivalents. Individuals can hold more than one contract with a provider and each contract may involve more than one activity. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5, in line with HESA rounding conventions. Numbers may not sum due to rounding.[5] Staff full-time equivalent (FTE) is defined by the contract(s) of employment and is proportioned to each activity's cost centre.

Department for Education: Minimum Wage

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of employees in their Department are paid the National Minimum Wage.

Nick Gibb: All employees in the Department are paid above the National Minimum Wage.

Students: Cost of Living

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support students in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England with the rising cost of living.

Robert Halfon: The government reviews the support provided to cover students’ living costs on an annual basis.The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year which have impacted students.On 11 January 2023, the department announced a one-off reallocation of funding to add £15 million to this year's student premium to support additional hardship requests. There is now £276 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students. This extra funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. The department works with the Office for Students (OfS) to ensure universities support students using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.Many universities in the West Midlands area, including but not limited to, Coventry University, the University of Wolverhampton, the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City University have allocated money to hardship, scholarship and bursary funds to support students, and have detail available about these funds on their websites.We have continued to increase maximum loans and grants each year with a 2.3% increase for the current 2022/23 academic year and a further 2.8% increase for 2023/24.Loans that support with students’ living costs are a contribution towards their living costs while attending university, with the highest levels of support targeted at students who need it the most, such as students from low-income families. Students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the tax year 2022-23 has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, can apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.All households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Act passed on 25 October 2022 includes the provision which requires landlords to pass any benefits they receive from energy price support onto end users, as appropriate. Further details of the requirements under this Act are set out in the legislation.The Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a price reduction to ensure that all businesses and other non-domestic customers are protected from high energy bills this winter, including universities and private purpose-built student accommodation providers.

Apprentices

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of closing the national traineeships programme on (a) disadvantaged young people and (b) young people who need additional support to access the employment market.

Robert Halfon: I refer the honourable member for Liverpool West Derby to the answer I gave on 23 January 2023 to the questions 126871 and 126872.

Schools: Defibrillators

Olivia Blake: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, why respondents were only asked about Automated External Defibrillators purchased within the last four years in her Department’s most recent survey on school defibrillator provision.

Olivia Blake: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what evidential basis did she determine the defibrillator requirements for (a) schools and (b) communities in her Department's recent tender for defibrillators.

Olivia Blake: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his Answer of 17 October 2022 to Question 58927, if he will he publish information held by his Department on school and community defibrillator provision to allow areas of most need to be identified.

Nick Gibb: The Department’s defibrillator roll out, to all state funded schools in England without access to a defibrillator, began on 20 January 2023.The Department’s defibrillator survey asked schools a small number of questions to establish if they needed a defibrillator. This included asking if they had a device that was over four years old. This is because defibrillators typically have a five year warranty and the Department wanted to ensure no school would be left without provision. To support schools, the Department has secured an eight year warranty and support package for the devices it is providing.The Department’s defibrillator programme is targeted at schools. The Department will ensure defibrillators are available to over nine million pupils, visitors to schools and over 950,000 adults working in the school sector. NHS England, academic experts, and leading charities were all consulted in the development of the specification to ensure the device selected was suitable for both schools and communities. Each school will make the decision on whether to provide public use of their defibrillator. New guidance has been produced to support schools which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1130210/Automated_External_Defibrillators_Guidance_jan_23.pdf.The Department does not hold records on community provision of defibrillators. Over half of schools responded to the defibrillator survey, with approximately 60% of schools indicating they did not have a defibrillator or that their device was over four years old. The Department’s roll out is expected to be completed by the end of the 2022/23 academic year, ensuring that all state funded schools in England have access to a defibrillator. The latest information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement laid before both Houses on 20 January 2023, available here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-01-20/hcws506.

Department for Education: South Tyneside

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money South Tyneside Council has returned to her Department from grants allocated in the last two years as of 19 January 2023.

Nick Gibb: The total amount of money received through payments made to the Department for Education by South Tyneside Council between 19 January 2021 and 19 January 2023 is £930,310.63.

Department for Education: Trade Unions

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what human resources information their Department shares with trade unions on a regular basis.

Nick Gibb: The Department does not have a prescribed set of data shared with the Departmental Trade Union Side (DTUS) on a regular basis. Instead, the Department shares data which is relevant to the areas being discussed each month or ad hoc requests from DTUS.

Young People: Unemployment

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2023 to Question 114667 on Special Educational Needs: Unemployment, if she will provide a breakdown by region of the 12,497 young people who are not in education, employment or training.

Robert Halfon: The requested information is available in the National Statistics publication on education, health and care plans, which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.The data requested can be found in the following table:https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/0f7f9d16-87a5-443e-7d55-08dafabf1de8.

Schools: Closures

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will issue guidance to schools on the minimum notice which parents should be given of a decision to close a school due to bad weather.

Nick Gibb: The Department has updated its emergency planning and response guidance, which sets out how education and childcare providers should plan for and deal with emergencies, including significant public health incidents and severe weather. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.All education and childcare providers should have emergency plans in place. The plans should detail what providers would do and how they would respond if any temporary actions needed to be taken in the event of an emergency, including severe weather. The aim of an emergency plan is to help providers respond effectively in an emergency, and, where possible, continue to prioritise and maximise face-to-face learning.The guidance outlines that a good plan should cover how providers would communicate any changes to children, pupils, students, parents, carers, and staff.

Further Education: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve post-18 education options for young people in Stockport constituency.

Robert Halfon: The department is investing £3.8 billion more in further education and skills over the Parliament to ensure people across the country, including in Stockport, have access to the skills they need to get on the ladder of opportunity and build a fulfilling career in jobs the economy needs.We are investing a further £125 million in 16-19 education in the 2023/24 financial year and an extra £1.6 billion in 2024/25 compared with 2021/22. This is the biggest increase in 16-19 funding in a decade and will help to fund the additional students anticipated in the system, 40 extra hours per student, and an affordable increase in funding rates per 16-19 student.This additional funding will help providers such as Trafford College Group, which includes Stockport College and sixth form campuses within Stockport at Cheadle and Marple. The department provided significant financial support to enable these Stockport-based campuses to become part of the Trafford College Group, which was awarded an Overall Effectiveness grade of Good by Ofsted in January 2023. The department has also committed to significant capital investment at the Cheadle Campus, supporting a £27 million condition improvement scheme.We are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year and supporting employers in all sectors and all areas of the country, including Stockport, to use apprenticeships to develop the skilled workforces they need. Since May 2010, there have been a total of 10,930 apprenticeship starts in Stockport.As part of the department’s commitment through the £2.5 billion National Skills Fund aimed at re-skilling and up-skilling opportunities to make sure adults, at any age, can upskill to reach their potential, we have introduced the Free Courses for Jobs scheme. This enables learners without a level 3 qualification (or learners with any qualification level but earning below the National Living Wage) to gain a qualification for free. Residents in Stockport can access provision in a range of sector subject areas delivered through colleges and training providers in the area for example in accounting, creative digital media and counselling.In addition, we have also introduced Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with an employer. All the Skills Bootcamps that the Greater Manchester Combined Authority deliver are available to residents and employers in the Stockport area. These include Skills Bootcamps in digital, construction, engineering, HGV driving and skills that support the green economy, delivered both online and face-to-face.The department is continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) at £1.34 billion in the 2021/22 academic year. The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.Currently, approximately 60% of the AEB is devolved to nine Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the Mayor of London. This includes the Greater Manchester MCA which covers Stockport. This gives the authority direct control over adult education provision for their residents and provides the local area with the opportunity to meet local needs.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Canada: Social Security Benefits

Richard Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has held with his Canadian counterpart on a reciprocal social security agreement.

David Rutley: The Foreign Secretary has not held recent discussions on a reciprocal social security agreement with his Canadian counterpart.

Commonwealth: British Nationals Abroad

Richard Thomson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support UK pensioners in Commonwealth countries.

David Rutley: We support around 30,000 British nationals and their families each year. Our services are set out in our published guide on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/support-for-british-nationals-abroad#about-our-consular-services. The location of our offices is also available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/world/embassies. Our consular staff are contactable 24/7, 365 days a year and strive to provide the right tailored assistance to those who request our help, doing more for those who need more help.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Trade Unions

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what human resources information their Department shares with trade unions on a regular basis.

David Rutley: The FCDO Human Resources Directorate (HRD) leads employee relations with the three trade unions that the FCDO and FCDO Services recognises the Public and Commercial Services Union, FDA and Prospect.HRD shares information with the Trade Unions in compliance with our statutory obligations and in line with the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Informing and Consulting. Any information shared will be done in accordance with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Zimbabwe: Crops

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to support crop production in Zimbabwe.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK's £22 million investment in the multi-donor funded Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund has improved crop production for more than 250,000 people over 2015-2022. It has also strengthened farmer knowledge on climate smart agriculture, crop diversification, soil fertility management and water harvesting. The programme has learned that integrating a range of activities is most effective at building resilience, such as crop and livestock production with community financial services and strengthened links to markets. This has improved the ability of more than 1 million people to cope with the effects of climate change in Zimbabwe.We are exploring what we can do to harness this learning and embed some of these approaches in national systems, within our reduced Official Development Assistance programme.

Zimbabwe: Food Aid

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) women and (b) children who require food assistance in Zimbabwe.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 5.2 million people currently have insufficient food consumption. Unfortunately, this data is not broken down by women and children.Zimbabwe is one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world - droughts, floods and natural disasters mean many households are food insecure. The UK is providing targeted cash transfers to more than 10,000 highly food insecure people in Southern Zimbabwe via the WFP. We are working with the Government of Zimbabwe and other partners to coordinate response efforts and to shift the focus towards long-term resilience building - this includes improving agricultural techniques and investments we are making in climate-resilient irrigation and solar power in rural communities.

African Development Bank

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with leadership of the African Development Bank.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Foreign Secretary and African Development Bank President Adesina met and shared a platform at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh at the Accelerating Adaptation in Africa event on 8 November 2022. At the event the Foreign Secretary announced the UK's £200 million contribution to the Climate Action Window of the African Development Fund.In addition the Minister for Development and Africa, the Rt. Hon. Andrew Mitchell spoke to President Adesina on 29 November 2022 about the UK's partnerships with the Bank, including our support for the African Development Fund, and our guarantee that is allowing the Bank to provide up to $2 billion of climate finance to African countries. The Foreign Secretary announced the UK contribution to the Fund on 7 December 2022 during his visit to Kenya.

Ghana: Foreign Relations

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Ghanaian counterpart on improving UK-Ghana relations.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK and Ghana have a strong, wide-ranging partnership and cooperate closely on areas of mutual interest. The Minister of State for Development and Africa was pleased to visit Ghana in December 2022 to co-host the UK-Ghana Business Council and meet with senior figures. Minister Mitchell looks forward to the next meeting which will take place later this year. In addition, we hosted the second UK-Ghana Security Dialogue in London in July 2022, where we agreed steps to advance our bilateral cooperation to tackle organised crime and terrorism. In November 2022 the Minister for Armed Forces attended the Accra Initiative conference in Ghana, to express the UK's commitment to supporting regional stability.

Cameroon: Foreign Relations

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his counterpart in Cameroon on the Southern Cameroons.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Minister Mitchell met with Cameroon's Minister of Defence earlier this month, and set out the UK's commitment to supporting a peaceful resolution to conflict in the North-West South-West regions. The former Minister for Africa, Sir James Duddridge MP, also made this commitment to President Biya and Prime Minister Ngute when he visited Cameroon in March 2021.

Ghana: Marburg Virus

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of Ghana’s response to the recent outbreak of the Marburg virus.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: On 16 September 2022, Ghana announced the country was free of Marburg virus disease, two months after the start of the outbreak. The Minister of State for Development and Africa congratulated the Government of Ghana on an effective response.The UK continues to support Ghana's Ministry of Health to build a resilient health system able to respond promptly and effectively to outbreaks. Prior to the outbreak, the UK trained over 7,000 health workers on surveillance and response, including in the regions affected by the outbreak. The UK is contributing to outbreak investigation studies to identify the origin of the disease and will participate in the outbreak response review scheduled for February 2023.

Ghana: Inflation

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) political situation and (b) impact on local people of trends in the level of inflation in Ghana.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Ghana is a well-established democracy with a history of successful political transitions. Following fair and transparent elections in 2020, the UK expects the Presidential elections in 2024 to continue in this pattern The UK understands that rising levels of inflation have had significant implications for people in Ghana, including rising costs of food and fuel. We will continue to work closely with Ghana to build economic resilience and welcome the Staff Level Agreement they have reached with the International Monetary Fund.

Ghana: Currencies

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of Ghana's gold for Oil policy on the Ghanian Cedi.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK has noted Ghana's Gold Purchase Programme and will watch its development with interest. The UK is supporting Ghana as it navigates a set of economic challenges.

Venezuela: Sanctions

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights - Visit to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, what assessment he has made of the impact of the UK sanctions towards Venezuela on Venezuelan citizens.

David Rutley: The UK has sanctioned 41 Venezuelans under our Venezuela Autonomous, Global Human Rights and Global Anti-Corruption regimes. Sanctions are in place against individuals who are responsible for egregious human rights violations, the undermining of democracy and exploitation of public programmes. UK sanctions are helping to encourage democratic change by keeping pressure on the illegitimate Maduro regime, targeting illicit finance, and calling out human rights abuses.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Trapping

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Government’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare, when he will launch a call for evidence on the use of snares.

Trudy Harrison: If improperly used snares can cause immense suffering to both target and non-target animals. Used properly, some stakeholders consider them to be a valuable tool in the protection of rare and endangered species. We are looking at how snares are regulated as part of our continued drive to maintain the highest animal welfare standards in the world, and working to ensure the regulated use of the most appropriate trap and cull method which causes the least suffering whilst providing the greatest protection to crops, game birds or endangered species Through our Animal Action for Welfare Plan, published in May 2021, we are looking at whether changes need to be made to reflect concerns raised. Defra ministers are meeting with key external stakeholders and, once engagements are completed, we will be able to update on a timeframe for a call for evidence.

Plastics: Recycling

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the importance of investment in chemical recycling for delivering a circular economy in the plastics sector.

Rebecca Pow: In the Resources and Waste Strategy, we have committed to taking actions which will help to stimulate private investment in recycling infrastructure. Chemical recycling offers a potential complementary route for plastic recycling where mechanical recycling is impractical or uneconomic and we continue to consider how chemical recycling could play a role in ensuring more of our plastic waste is recycled domestically to meet our ambition of a 65% recycling rate by 2035. WRAP recently published an updated plastic waste hierarchy which references chemical recycling and its potential for offering a complementary recycling route to mechanical recycling for certain plastics. The Government has also funded innovative demonstrator projects, including on chemical recycling, through UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging programme.

River Severn: Flood Control

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the impact of inflation on the adequacy of the funding allocated by the Government in June 2021 to support the development of the Severn Valley Water Management scheme.

Rebecca Pow: The Severn Valley Water Management Scheme (SVWMS) is led by the Environment Agency and will represent a major change in the way water is managed, by reducing not only flood risk but also securing water resources for the future, benefitting and improving water quality, natural assets and the environment. The Government is investing over £34 million from the Flood Defence Grant-in-Aid and Economic Recovery Funding for projects in the scheme and the wider Severn catchment. Higher than expected inflation is causing challenges to the delivery of all infrastructure programmes. Defra and the Environment Agency are currently undertaking an assessment of the potential impact of inflation on the £5.2 billion 2021-2027 capital investment programme for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management. The Environment Agency retains an oversight of the SVWMS project and its expenditure to ensure that it is being undertaken in an effective manner.

River Severn: Flood Control

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the Severn Valley Water Management Plan.

Rebecca Pow: Working closely with partners on both sides of the English/Welsh border, the Environment Agency and the River Severn Partnership has been developing the initial plan for the Severn Valley Water Management Scheme. This will make a significant, positive difference to community resilience along the upper Severn. This initial plan outlines a possible approach to effective water management across the Upper Severn catchment. The funding landscape is complex and Partnership working is critical to confirming the funding and delivery routes for the project, which will determine the final plan. Over the next 12 months the Environment Agency will be working with partners and engaging with stakeholders and communities in the Upper Severn catchment to discuss this work in more detail.

Home Office

Police: DNA

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of storing the DNA profile of police officers on the National DNA database.

Chris Philp: In order to address concerns around police vetting caused by high-profile cases of police abuse of power, the Home Secretary has asked the College of Policing to strengthen the statutory code of practice for police vetting to make the obligations all forces must legally follow stricter and clearer. Separately, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has asked all police forces to check their officers and staff against the police national database to help identify anyone who is unfit to serve.The National DNA Database (NDNAD) can only hold the DNA profiles of people arrested for a recordable offence, under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. We have no plans to add the DNA profiles of police officers to the NDNAD.The Police Regulations 2003 set out that a candidate for appointment as a police officer or special constable must undergo biometric vetting, with consent, and the chief officer must be satisfied with the results prior to appointment. More information on biometric checks and retention of DNA profiles are set out in the College of Policing’s vetting authorised professional practice (APP) guidance.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Parking: Codes of Practice

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps his Department has taken in reissuing a parking code of practice.

Dehenna Davison: I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 54476 on 12 October 2022.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Equality

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking to ensure his Department complies with section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code; and whether that monitoring data gathered is shared with union representatives.

Mr Alister Jack: The Scotland Office is aware of, and complies with, its obligations under the Civil Service Management Code. As the Scotland Office does not employ any staff directly, detailed monitoring data is held by the employing departments. There is a range of HR information which is published on GOV.UK and is therefore publicly available. In addition, the employing departments share routine human resources information with their recognised trade unions as part of their normal engagement.

Cabinet Office

Prime Minister: Aviation

Beth Winter: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the official business travel cost to the public purse was of the flights taken by the Prime Minister and officials from London to to (a) Leeds on 9 January 2023, (b) Inverness on 12 January 2023 and (c) Blackpool on 19 January 2023.

Beth Winter: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) officials and (b) advisers accompanied the Prime Minister on flights from London to to (a) Leeds on 9 January 2023, (b) Inverness on 12 January 2023 and (c) Blackpool on 19 January 2023.

Jeremy Quin: I refer the hon. Member to PQ 120061.It has been the practice of successive Administrations not to publish granular information relating to the official movements of protected individuals and those accompanying them within the United Kingdom.

Department for International Trade

Trade Promotion

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department has considered the potential merits of increasing the involvement of the UK's diverse diasporas in trade delegations; and whether she has made a recent assessment of the diversity of trade delegations.

Andrew Bowie: The Department for International Trade (DIT) aims to be a diverse, inclusive department that is representative of the communities we serve. DIT supports and embeds the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion strategy to promote fair representation within the workforce, with a number of actions to support increased representation of underrepresented groups. This includes the Export Strategy, within which our commitments will be underpinned by improving our data on diversity and inclusion in international trade. Recent trade delegations have included DIT support to the Tavola Food and Drink Trade show in Belgium in March 2022, where DIT supported 20 businesses, 10 of which were from an ethnic minority background, to exhibit their products.

World Economic Forum

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the cost to the public purse was of her travel arrangements for the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Nigel Huddleston: Details of Ministerial travel are routinely recorded on the Department’s transparency returns, published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dit-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings. Returns are published on a quarterly basis.

World Economic Forum

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she held discussions with the United States Trade Representative at the World Economic Forum in December 2022.

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many times she has met with the United States Trade Representative since September 2022.

Greg Hands: The Secretary of State had a bilateral discussion with the United States Trade Representative at the World Economic Forum in Davos on 18th January 2023. This was their second bilateral discussion since the Secretary of State’s appointment in September 2022.

World Economic Forum

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will list the meetings she held whilst at the World Economic Forum in December 2022.

Nigel Huddleston: All meetings held by the Secretary of State in her Ministerial capacity are routinely released on quarterly Departmental transparency returns. These will be published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dit-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings in due course.

Department for International Trade: Trade Unions

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what human resources information their Department shares with trade unions on a regular basis.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department for International Trade regularly shares information with the recognised departmental trade unions where appropriate and that supports union representatives in carrying out their responsibilities under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. This includes details on pay, terms and conditions and other human resource policies, as well as information regarding employee experience initiatives and other organisational transformation or change which is shared as part of regular trade union engagement. In addition, a range of information regarding the departmental workforce is available publicly on GOV.UK.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Amazon Web Services

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made a recent estimate of the percentage share that Amazon Web Service holds of the market in which it operates; and if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the (a) size and (b) openness to competition of the the market in which that company operates.

Paul Scully: It is for the CMA as the UK’s independent competition authority to investigate specific markets and the behaviour of specific companies.As part of the Autumn Statement last year, the Chancellor announced the government will legislate in this Parliamentary session for a new pro-competition regime for digital markets. The Digital Markets Unit (DMU), within the CMA, will oversee and enforce the new regime.The new regime will address the far-reaching power of the most powerful tech firms. While new technologies are delivering huge value to consumers and businesses, a small number of firms exert immense control across strategically critical services online. The new tools will deliver fast, highly targeted action to make markets more contestable and level the playing field for UK tech firms.

Music: Streaming

David Warburton: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to help ensure that creators and performers receive a fair return from the income made from streaming music.

Julia Lopez: A key priority for this Government is ensuring the music streaming market functions well and that creators and performers are properly remunerated. In response to the DCMS Select Committee’s inquiry into the Economics of Music Streaming, the Government launched a comprehensive programme of work focusing on the key issues identified.This includes the establishment of expert working groups, chaired by the Intellectual Property Office, to develop industry-led solutions on metadata and transparency. These aim to bring improvements for creators and performers, including quicker and more accurate payments for songwriters and enhanced confidence in creators’ dealings with labels and publishers.The Government encouraged the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) to conduct a market study into music and streaming services, which concluded in November 2022. The CMA found no suggestion that publishing revenues are being suppressed by distorted or restricted competition and that the overall share of streaming revenues enjoyed by publishers and songwriters has increased from 8% in 2008 to 15% in 2021.We have also commissioned independent research into the impacts on creators, performers, and the wider industry of potential changes to copyright law in the areas of equitable remuneration, contract adjustment, and rights reversion. And the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has completed research into playlisting algorithms used by streaming services, which will be published shortly.The Government also notes action taken by industry to improve remuneration for creators. The major record labels have committed to disregarding unrecouped advances in older contracts, meaning many artists are being paid from streaming for the first time. Many independent labels have gone further, leading the way by setting minimum digital royalty rates across new and existing contracts.The work of the expert working groups is advanced, as is the research. Based on this, and the action taken by industry, the Government will be taking decisions on this work in the coming months.